Known for their energetic performances, vibrant face paint stage tradition to kaleidoscopic music videos, Walk the Moon
is made up of Nicholas Petricca, Kevin Ray, Eli Maiman, and Sean Waugaman, was formed in 2006 at Kenyon College in Cincinnati.
The band’s first release “Anna Sun,” which was named for a professor, quickly gained airplay and was named the song of the summer in a 2011 Esquire article “30 Summer Songs Every Man Should Listen To.” Additionally, the single was also named song of the summer by MTV and Seventeen, as well as one of the best songs of the year by Amazon.
In June 2012, the band released their first major label studio album, Walk the Moon. It included a re-recorded version of “Anna Sun,” which peaked at No. 20, giving Walk the Moon their first top twenty hit on the charts.
In December 2014, the band released their second major-label studio album, Talking Is Hard, which included the song “Shut Up and Dance.” The song catapulted the band to stardom when the single became a multi-platinum global smash that peaked at No. 1 on the Alternative, Hot AC, AC charts, No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100, and went to No. 2 on Top 40 radio. The track also broke the record for consecutive weeks at #1 on Billboard’s Hot Rock Songs chart at the time.
“Shut Up and Dance” racked up over six million downloads and 850 million streams in the process leading to a slew of honors including winning two Billboard Music Awards, a nomination for an MTV Music Video Award for Best Rock Video, American Music Award nominations for Favorite Pop/Rock Duo Or Group, New Artist of the Year, and Favorite Alternative Rock Artist. They were
also nominated for an iHeart Radio Music Award for Best Duo/Group of the Year, Song of the Year, and Alternative Rock Song of the Year.
The band was riding high on the biggest hit of its career, and rehearsing for what was slated to be its biggest, most elaborate headlining tour to-date, when singer Nick Petricca’s father fell ill in March 2016 and the tour was halted.
Following his father’s death, Petricca found himself exploring his spirituality and his sexuality in a way that he’d never before confronted.
“To say the band went through kind of a dark, tense time puts it mildly. Like any family or any marriage, we had some growing pains,” said Petricca. In addition to difficult life circumstances
involving family, the band just had some issues to work out. “There was a time when we weren’t sure we were coming back. I think it’s because we dug deeper and we’ve been more vulnerable here than we have been on any other record. We made it through to the other side.”
Being on the road together for basically five years straight from the beginning of the first record through making the second record and the whole journey we didn’t really have a moment to really sit and look at where we were on a personal level with ourselves and with each other. “All I Want,” in particular, being that sort of jumping off point, both lyrically and thematically, it’s really a song about how do I get happy. And why am I not; why am I not finding happiness in all of these external things? Trying to be vegan, trying to be straight, trying to buy cool stuff, trying to identify with this or that thing outside of myself, and realizing that external validation doesn’t have a whole lot of value.
In February 2016, the band released a live album called You Are Not Alone (Live from the Greek). The album featured songs recorded from their sold-out Los Angeles show at The Greek Theater during the second leg of their Talking Is Hard Tour.
“I think what we’re giving people at our shows is a feeling of not being alone, which is why we named our live record You Are Not Alone. It gives them this sense of community and people who are maybe weirdos and not the most popular kids a place to connect with other weirdos like us and have that sense of community and belonging. That’s always been our goal with the live shows, creating this safe space where people can let go and be themselves and feel good.”
In August 2017, Petricca performed solo at LoveLoud fest, a concert designed to ignite the relevant and vital conversation of what it means to unconditionally love, understand, accept, and support LGBTQ youth in our communities. The festival is founded by Dan Reynolds of Imagine Dragons.
In the Fall of 2017, the group released the pop radio hit “One Foot” from their third album What If Nothing, which made its debut at #6 on the U.S. iTunes charts. The album included hits “Headphones” and “Surrender.”
On this album, the band’s music reflected a combination of each of the members’ personal development since Talking Is Hard. Petricca said the new album was “really raw lyrically” and centered around “looking into the unknown and realizing that it could all go to shit or it could be the best thing in your life.”
In January 2019, the band released their new single, “Timebomb” and since then they have joined Muse as their opening act during their Simulation Theory North American Tour.
“There are feelings that we have always promoted and have always wanted at our shows, which is unity and not being alone. I think we are allowing ourselves to ask questions and be comfortable without them having an obvious answer. I want people to take comfort in knowing that it’s okay to not know what’s going to happen. It’s okay to be confused or angry or scared and that other people feel that way too. You’re not alone in any of it. And that’s what I get from our music and I hope other people take comfort from that as well.”
This Spring found the band on The Tonight Show’s Cover Room segment with a melancholic version of Adele’s “Someone Like You.” They then rocked the stage with an energetic performance of “Timebomb” on Jimmy Kimmel Live!
Walk The Moon has always had a distinct sonic identity in the indie scene — one of youthful optimism and genuine excitement.
“A term that comes up a lot for us is empowerment and it gives us a lot of joy when we can tell that our listeners, the people at our shows, feel empowered. And the one thing that we’ve received, that I’ve received listening to some other music is that when I feel well connected to a piece of music, it’s not when they are telling me “you are powerful” but it’s more when they’re saying I am vulnerable. There’s a phrase that I love—vulnerability is absolute power. I think realizing whether it was conscious or unconscious in the process of writing the most powerful thing we could do is just be vulnerable with our experience of life.”
Walk the Moon will perform at Pride Rocks PGH on Friday, June 7. Tickets are available here.
